Labyrinth by A.C.H Smith

You’ve seen the movie. You know the story…

15 year old Sarah resents her stepmother and new baby brother, Toby. When left at home to babysit, she asks the Goblin King to take Toby away to his castle next to the goblin city on the other side of the labyrinth. Of course, Sarah immediately regrets her wish once Jareth, the Goblin King, grants it. He gives her 13 hours to cross the labyrinth and rescue Toby from his castle, or the baby becomes a goblin and stays with him forever.

Labyrinth is one of my all time favourite movies, so on my latest viewing when I spotted the mention of a novelization in the credits I had to jump online and buy it.

If you love the movie you have to buy the book. The story is the same, of course, but some scenes have additional dialogue and description. There is more Jareth, more details about Sarah, and longer scenes between Jareth and Sarah. 

I would have loved an even more in-depth emotional dive into the world and characters, with more information about the labyrinth and it’s inhabitants, and some of the scenes read a little like plain description from the script or movie, without much reason for what’s happening, but otherwise it is competently written and very easy to read. I actually had to force myself to slow down so that I could take longer reading the book. I just wanted to get lost in the labyrinth. 

The edition I bought has a lovely extra section with sketches by Brain Froud and a peek into Jim Henson’s idea notebook when he was working on the story. 

A must read for fans of the movie.

I award Labyrinth…